rex

I'm a sucker for anything that relates the elements to the breath but haven't bought this course as cash flow is a bit tight. There's a Sufi meditation for purifying the elements with the breath where each element is given a specfic breathing sequence: Earth: in and out through the nose Water: in through the nose, out through the mouth Fire: in through the mouth, out through the nose Air: in and out through the mouth Ether: in and out through nose (fine breaths) Good to do outside. You can be creative with colours and visualisaton and stuff. Good examples of how these breaths are used can be found here and here. This snippet of theory was lifted from here: "The question, how we should purify the breath, may be answered thus, that breath is constituted of the five elements -- of which both the body and the mind are composed -- and it is the same elements which are used by the mystics to purify the breath. After a Sufi has made his breath rhythmic by the practice of Fikr, and has acquired strength in the breath, then he may purify his breath with different elements. By breathing on earth, he will give all his impurities to earth, and will attract purity from earth. By breathing before water, he will purify his breath and will give out impurities to water. By breathing before fire, the Sufi purifies his breath by that element. Therefore, incense is burnt in religious places, and the adepts in India keep fire before them when practicing meditation. One must purify one's breath by breathing in the open air, which is the air of purification. And life in the open space enables one to purify one's breath by the ether, which pervades the whole space. Purification of the breath not only gives sound health of mind and body, but gives perpetual youth and long life, until one has attained the life eternal." All for free too.

Have a good one!

Allan has said it all really. It depends on what you want to learn and what they have to teach. A few techniques here and there? A philosophy and practice of health? An established spiritual path? The approach and relationship will be different depending on what is sought. With an established spiritual path it is usual to expect some form of long term relationship and mutual commitment. With do it yourself eclecticism the relationship may be more transient and you have to know what you're doing and why you're doing it. If someone's got the capacity for this, all well and good. After all our innermost nature, however you want to define it, is just as good as the master's innermost nature. As Michael Winn says spiritual lineages want people to embody what they have to offer and why not by-pass human organisations if they get in the way? (http://forum.healingdao.com/general/message/638/) A good spiritual teacher inspires, provokes and instigates. They make you aware of things that you should be aware of but are unaware. They can open doors and provide access to resources that will protect and support you through the inevitable difficulties that will arise from oneself and the environment. Being in the presence of a good teacher can throw up all sorts of negative feelings but all the presence is doing is showing you the state of your being. The difficulty here is distinguishing between genuine alarm bells and the resistance of entrenched negativity. Can you mistrust your mistrust? Before doing so check out the 'senior' students, do they embody what the teacher teaches? Are other students cliquely and exclusive? Whats the vibe like at gatherings etc? Sometimes the teacher is more liberal than than the students! Rex

Hi Allan, Welcome to the forum, good to have you around! Most mystical/experiential insights are rationalised and systemised into an ism of some sort. I think the apparent intellectualism of guys here is more down to the limitations imposed by internet communication and the forum discussion format. Rex

What do they do to you? And Why?

Talking about being awake when asleep, we're also asleep when we're awake. In a good article on Waking Sleep (The structure and dynamics of waking sleep) Charles T. Tart cites Gurdjief's premise that we're asleep all the time. "WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE IN A STATE OF WAKING SLEEP? We can say that "Man is asleep" in the overall sense that an individual in an ordinary, culturally "normal" state of consciousness is: a) unaware or only partially aware of important objects, people and processes in his or her immediate environment. b. unaware or only partially aware of important, sometimes vital talents, processes, and events within his or her own being. If this were all there was to our initial definition of being asleep, we could more simply call it "ignorance", and straightforward efforts at education would be the remedy. Therefore we must add: c) man habitually and automatically spends an enormous amount of time in daydreams and delusory belief systems about himself and his world; that is, man walks around in a kind of waking (day)dream; d) man is strongly and emotionally attached to and defends many of his dreams and delusory belief systems; and e) man significantly distorts his perceptions of his world and his self, usually in a manner that subjectively supports his daydreams and delusory belief systems. As a consequence of being asleep in this sense, of usually being in what I have elsewhere termed consensus trance we undergo an enormous amount of suffering." So delusion has active aspect to it then?

Truely terrible. There's a UK self-defence forum with accounts of how people have dealt with/would deal with various situations. There's a lot of savvy stuff here from experienced people: Geoff Thompson - 'The Real World'

Hi GrandTrinity, I got these just before Christmas. While inspiring to watch they're more demo than instructional as it's difficult to work out exactly what's going on; especially with the breathing and simultaneous pushing and pressing of the abdomen with the hands. At a pinch the empty force breathing and pressing can be got from Mantak Chia's Tan Tien Chi Kung book (it's one chapter amongst a mass of information) and the Tao Yin from the standard book/video. Put them together and voila! Somehow I bet it's not that easy though. All in all these demo videos are fragments of a wider system that David Shen taught and barring personal instruction you're left picking up clues from other sources. I didn't get what I was looking for in these videos in terms of detailed 'how to do' instructons and I wish I'd spent the money on something else. What do you get if you don't get what you want? Experience. Rex

This is going to be a bit of a quote'o'rama ... I don't think taoism devalues the heart. Qualities like love and compassion are seen as innate attributes of our natural condition before psychological/social/cultural conditioning. The Hua Hu Ching has some intreseting things to say: "Fifty-One Those who want to know the truth of the universe should practice the four cardinal virtues. The first is reverence for all life; this manifests as unconditional love and respect for oneself and all other beings. The Second is natural sincerity; this manifests as honesty, simplicity, and faithfulness. The third is gentleness; this manifests as kindness, consideration for others, and sensitivity to spiritual truth. The fourth is supportiveness; this manifests as service to others without expectation of reward. The four virtues are not an external dogma but a part of your original nature. When practiced, they give birth to wisdom and evoke the five blessings: health, wealth, happiness, longevity, and peace. " Formal religious devotion will not necessarily lead to realising the mystery of the Tao: "Seventeen Do not go about worshipping deities and religious institutions as the source of the subtle truth To do so is to place intermediaries between yourself and the divine, and to make of yourself a beggar who looks outside for a treasure that is hidden inside his own breast. If you want to worship the Tao, first discover it in your own heart. Then your worship will be meaningful." Some religions may be lead to sidetracks: "Sixteen Most of the world's religions serve only to strengthen attachments to false concepts such as self and other, life and death, heaven and earth, and so on. Those who become entangled in these false ideas are prevented from perceiving the Integral Oneness. "Seventy-Eight There are many partial religions, and then there is the Integral Way. Partial religions are desperate, clever, human inventions; the Integral Way is a deep expression of the pure, whole, universal mind. Partial religions rely on the hypnotic manipulation of undeveloped minds; the Integral Way is founded on the free transmission of the plain, natural, immutable truth. It is a total reality, not an occult practice. The Integral Way eschews conceptual fanaticism, extravagant living, fancy food, violent music. They spoil the serenity of one's mind and obstruct one's spiritual development. Renouncing what is fashionable and embracing what is plain, honest, and virtuous, the Integral Way returns you to the subtle essence of life. Adopt its practices and you will become like they are: honest, simple, true, virtuous, whole. You see, in partial pursuits, one's transformation is always partial as well. But in integral self-cultivation, it is possible to achieve a complete metamorphosis, to transcend your emotional and biological limitations and evolve to a higher state of being. By staying out of the shadows and following this simple path, you become extraordinary, unfathomable, a being of profound cosmic subtlety. You outlive time and space by realizing the subtle truth of the universe. " In the text there's even references to alchemy: "Sixty-Two Do you wish to attain pure Tao? Then you must understand and integrate within yourself the three main energies of the universe. The first is the earth energy. Centered in the belly, it expresses itself as sexuality. Those who cultivate and master the physical energy attain partial purity. The second is the heaven energy. Centered in the mind, it expresses itself as knowledge and wisdom. Those whose minds merge with the Universal Mind also attain partial purity. The third is the harmonized energy. Centered in the heart, it expresses itself as spiritual insight. Those who develop spiritual insight also attain partial purity. Only when you achieve all three-mastery of the physical energy, universal mindedness, and spiritual insight-and express them in a virtuous integral life, can you attain pure Tao. Sixty-Five The interplay of yin and yang within the womb of the Mysterious Mother creates the expansion and contraction of nature. Although the entire universe is created out of this reproductive dance, it is but a tiny portion of her being. Her heart is the Universal Heart, and her mind the Universal Mind. The reproductive function is also a part of human beings. Because yin and yang are not complete within us as individuals, we pair up to integrate them and bring forth new life. Although most people spend their entire lives following this biological impulse, it is only a tiny portion of our beings as well. If we remain obsessed with seeds and eggs, we are married to the fertile reproductive valley of the Mysterious Mother but not to her immeasurable heart and all-knowing mind. If you wish to unite with her heart and mind, you must integrate yin and yang within and refine their fire upward. Then you have the power to merge with the whole being of the Mysterious Mother. This is what is known as true evolution." Other interesting taoist texts and instructions can be seen here: Other stuff

Mitch, I've been feeling rather ambivalent about posting things on public forums especially when it comes to personal experiences and commenting on experiences of others, but my enthusiasm got the better of me until I got cold feet - hence the editing of my original response. Everything you mention I can recognise and identify with. 'Basic sanity'is the term I use for the innate source of awareness reflected in our being that can be experienced as a cognisent centre of radiance at the heart centre. After the rare fleeting occasions when I've had an inkling of this I just go back to being my usual mixed up self.

Sorry. Broke my new years resolution and I still breaking it doing this!

2006 is the year that I won't be spending as much time writing bollocks on the internet

These empty force videos look interesting: Fu Tsang Nei Kung Advanced Empty Force Tao Yin Has anyone tried them or would anyone recommend them? Ta, Rex

After a period of burning the candle at both ends I practiced the seated Ba Duan Jin for half an hour a day for two weeks. It does what it says on the tin. I practiced the form taught by Simon Blow on his dvd Absorbing the Essence. He has a nice presence on the dvd and it was good to practice following his movements. Michael Winn's stuff on the microcosmic orbit came in handy when practicing the microcosmic orbit between each form in the set. The Ba Duan Jin set ended with a period of stillness meditation. Rex

What Makes 100%? What does it mean to give MORE than 100%? Ever wonder about those people who say they are giving more than 100%? We have all been to those meetings where someone wants you to give over 100%. How about achieving 103%? What makes up 100% in life? Here's a little mathematical formula that might help you answer these questions: If: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z is represented as: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26. Then: H-A-R-D-W-O-R-K 8+1+18+4+23+15+18+11 = 98% and K-N-O-W-L-E-D-G-E 11+14+15+23+12+5+4+7+5 = 96% But, A-T-T-I-T-U-D-E 1+20+20+9+20+21+4+5 = 100% And, B-U-L-L-S-H-I-T 2+21+12+12+19+8+9+20 = 103% AND, look how far ass kissing will take you. A-S-S-K-I-S-S-I-N-G 1+19+19+11+9+19+19+9+14+7 = 118% So, one can conclude with mathematical certainty that While Hard work and Knowledge will get you close, and Attitude will get you there, it's the Bullshit and Ass kissing that will put you over the top.

A nice bit of of levity and healthy irreverence is always in order when wading through this abstruse stuff! What a generous bloke! Loved the mp3s - will have to clog the wife's iPod with some of these. There's some more of his stuff here as well: http://www.dharma-media.org/media/mfs.php?mediaID=307

Are you working with these archetypes at the moment Sean? How would you recommend safe working here? Rex

It has been an excellent thread. I value Trunk's insights and his outline is thorough and very useful. Not wanting to appear as someone who has dumped in the collective punch bowl but I can't see anything in Jing Gong that hasn't already been stated before in the seven Healing Tao formulas and their suggested order of practice.

At 488 pages is this the one? Mahamudra: The Quintessence of Mind and Meditation